About


Professional and volunteer highlights, and personal tidbits below. And clear photographic evidence that I haven’t always embodied boundaries and consent. 🐈


Professional

A seasoned executive leader and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience driving organizational transformation through strategic operations, team development, and innovative community building. With a foundation in Cultural Anthropology from Brown University, I've applied my understanding of human behavior and communities as an award-winning photographer; co-founder of a community-oriented focus-group business; and COO of a civic action foundation. I've scaled startups and led national initiatives alongside political leaders, and amplified diverse and creative voices, and consistently delivering results by combining operational excellence with relationship-building and data-driven strategy.

Learn more on LinkedIn.

Volunteer

  • As a Camp AmeriKids wellness team volunteer since 2011, I support 150 campers (ages 7-16) and 50 volunteers during sleep-away summer camp. I implement behavioral management systems, provide conflict resolution, and conduct empathy training. Notably, I was the first wellness team member without a mandated reporting profession, bringing a unique perspective to camper support.

    I also took the photos and designed the website!

  • A Crisis Text Line volunteer counselor during the COVID-19 pandemic, I completed 30 hours of training in de-escalation, empathy, and crisis intervention. I provided over 200 hours of one-on-one crisis counseling via web platform, offering immediate text-based mental health support to individuals in acute distress.

  • I specialize in caring for animals with medical needs and sensitive temperaments while supporting volunteers experiencing compassion fatigue and burnout. Fear Free Shelter Program certified, I contribute through fostering, volunteer coordination, adoption facilitation, outreach and fundraising photography, and veterinary assistance.

    Check out my animal and rescue resources here.

Personal

    • Yes, Talisman is my legal name. ✨

    • I was born and bred in Greenwich Village.

    • My parents traveled the world before having me at 42 (in 1982) and then continued to travel and always took me with them. I’m grateful for the experiences and how they influenced me.

    • I grew up with a lot of love, adventures, the best of intentions, and zero boundaries.

    • My grandmother was Eva Zeisel [website by yours truly] was a Hungarian-born Industrial Designer. I am inspired every day by the love and empathy she put into her design process. She was driven by her playful search for beauty [watch her TED Talk] and deeply understood how to have people feel connect to her and her work.

    • I’m an ENFP to the core.

    • I'm definitely a Taurus, rising sign Leo. 🐾

    • Around 40 yo, I finally embraced myself as being pansexual/queer.

    • I've been called the 'Human Swiss Army Knife' due to my unique combination of experiences, resourcefulness, and extensive networks.

    • My High School didn’t offer grades.

    • My favorite classes at Brown University were Cross Cultural Perspectives on Child Rearing and Development, and Modern Culture and Media.

    • I've danced my whole life; you name it I've likely choreographed, led or followed it. I mostly salsa now, am exploring sensual healing through burlesque, and will never pass up an early 90s hip hop party.

    • I was diagnosed with Bipolar 2 during Covid and with great relief, explored various treatment options including Western medicine, SSRIs, and micro-dosing 🍄. I now advocate for a holistic approach combining Indigenous, Eastern, and Western medicines under specialist guidance.

    • I burned out as a professional photographer because I had momentum and thought I could do it all by myself. I didn't understand boundaries, know how to trust others, build a team, lean on a community, pace myself, or prioritize my mental and physical health.

    • I thought I was an extrovert until I was 35, because other people told me so—nope, full on ambivert.

    • Volunteering as a Crisis Text Line Counselor during Covid changed the course of my life both personally and professionally.

    • I'm currently studying to be a Birth Doula. Next on the agenda, Death Doula.

    • I've found kink to be a healing and affirming practice in individual shadow work and building community, especially when it comes to practicing communication, consent and boundaries.

  • Talisman is a life force. We have volunteered together for over a decade at a summer camp and I’ve always been impressed with her joyful enthusiasm to work wherever she’s needed. And then to do it well wherever she served! Most recently she’s been a member of our wellness team, under my supervision, serving the psychosocial needs of campers and counselors. Whether she’s working one-on-one with someone or contributing to daily team meetings, she is always very present, attentive to whomever she is with. She always listens carefully, contributes thoughtfully and seeks feedback to constantly keep communication open.

    Talisman is positive, accepting, open-minded and open-hearted. She is extraordinarily talented at marketing social media (a prior background as a professional photographer might have something to do with that), creatively managing imagery and messaging. She will, and she can, pitch in where she’s needed, ever mindful of the overall goal of keeping things running without regard for ego or hierarchy.

    Talisman is protective of everyone on her team or under her care in all ways – physical, psychosocial, practical. I consider myself lucky to have her on my team and think you would, too.

    —Meg Reilly, Principal, Reilly Editorial & Former Wellness Director, Camp AmeriKids/The ELM Project

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